ADELAIDE midfielder Nathan van Berlo has defied post-season groin operations to take out the club’s first 3km time trial of the summer at the Adelaide University grounds on Friday.

Van Berlo, 22, finished in a time of 9:46, just 10 seconds outside running machine Brett Burton’s club record. North Adelaide duo Greg Gallman (9:56) and Nick Gill (9:59), who were also both plagued by injury last season, finished in second and third, while onballer Brent Reilly came in fourth with a time of 10:10.

Physical performance manager Stephen Schwerdt said Van Berlo’s effort provided a great example for the young playing group.

“It gives you a bit of an indication as to what type of bloke you’re talking about with Nathan,” Schwerdt said on Friday.

“We’ve spoken about the quality of person he is and today probably epitomises what he’s all about. He had limited training time because of his surgery, but he’s a competitive athlete, a leader of our club and a great example for a lot of our group.”

Schwerdt was hopeful that Gill’s effort was a sign of things to come for next season.

“Nick has been a bit unlucky in that, previously, he’s come off playing in finals for North Adelaide right until the end, so he had a bit of a break but had limited training time in the lead up to our pre-season.

“In the past, he’s come in a bit underdone and that’s left him a bit susceptible to injury. This time it’s a little bit different because he played with us towards the end of the year and North didn’t make finals, so he was able to have a good break and get some training in before we started.

“Fingers crossed Nick will be much better for that because he is a unique athlete- he can do anything.”

The Crows players had a short rest after the 3km time trial before setting up for the gruelling ‘Goodwin Run’, which involves repetitive sprint efforts with slow jog ‘rest’ periods in between.

Reilly, who was keen to impress after being dropped back to the SANFL last season, was the last man standing ahead of midfielder Brad Symes.

Second-year trio Jared Petrenko, Taylor Walker and Tony Armstrong also put in impressive performances while van Berlo, Burton and the man the drill was named after, skipper Simon Goodwin, all sat out the second endurance test.

Schwerdt said he’d been impressed with the efforts of the entire playing group.

“The ability of our guys to train on their own over the break is second to none,” he said.

“A lot of athletes in AFL still need to have a fitness guy or someone showing them what to do, but we have a fair bit if trust in our group that they can go away and train on their own.

“That was vindicated today with the results they achieved.”

The Adelaide players will have a day off each Wednesday for the first time this pre-season, which Schwerdt said was to do with variety more so than necessity.

The club will hold conditioning sessions every Saturday, but the rest of the Crows’ outdoor trainings will incorporate the use of footballs and skills.

“We try and get the guys to do most of the endurance stuff on their own,” Schwerdt said.

“That way when we come back to start pre-season training we can start the footy work and we’re not doing that base stuff that’s traditionally done in pre-season.”